Chapter 12 of 'Wrestling's Olympic Fight: Politicos check party lines at the door

May 7, 2013

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Much has been written about the fact that wrestling’s fight for its spot in the 2020 Olympics and beyond has created fast friends between countries with sometimes checkered relationships – places such as Iran, Russia and the United States.

The bonding might have reached an even more impressive level.

Efforts to help wrestling continue as a core Olympic sport after the 2016 Games has brought together two groups — Republicans and Democrats. In the U.S. Congress, many legislators are finding common ground amid fierce debates on gun laws and health care reform.

When the International Olympic Committee voted in February to strip wrestling of its guaranteed standing after the next Summer Olympics, the reaction was immediate, and bipartisan.

“I saw Jim that morning right after the vote, about 7:45 in the morning,” said Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa) of a discussion with colleague Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). “I said, ‘Jim, we’ve got to do something about this.’ He and I disagree on most things, but we saw an opportunity for us to work across the aisle. He immediately said, ‘Yes.’”

Loebsack partnered with Jordan, a four-time state champion in high school and two-time NCAA title-winner at Wisconsin, and Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) to introduce House Resolution 71 in support of wrestling’s Olympic status. There now are 45 co-sponsors of the resolution, which is waiting for its time on the House floor soon.

Wrestling is one of eight groups set to lobby global sports leaders during an IOC gathering set for the end of this month in St. Petersburg, Russia. The list will be trimmed to a small group that will fight for the 26th and final spot on the 2020 and ’24 Olympic programs at the September IOC meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The other sports fighting for the spot: baseball-softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding and the martial art of wushu.

Olympic website InsideTheGames.com is asking readers which group should be added to the 2020 Olympics. Wrestling led the unscientific poll with 48.4 percent of the 95,000 votes as of Tuesday, followed by karate (25.9) and squash (20.3). Baseball-softball was a distant fourth (4.2).
For full poll results as of Tuesday morning, scroll further down in this article.

Jordan contended that the upcoming IOC votes are critical for the sport’s long-term health and viability.

“I remember watching (medalists Dan) Gable and (Wayne) Wells and Ben and John Peterson and Chris Taylor in the 1972 Olympics when I was 8 years old,” Jordan said. “That’s when I fell in love with the sport. Some kids might not catch the fever, if they don’t see it in the Olympics.

“They don’t get exposed to the values that wrestling teaches young people.”

The legislators who have signed up for House Resolution 71 show the broad reach of interest in wrestling across the U.S., with nearly half the nation’s states represented (24,) along with Puerto Rico. There is support from 29 who align with the Democratic voting bloc and 16 Republicans.

Three states — Iowa, Ohio and Michigan — have co-sponsors from both parties.“I remember talking to a colleague from Oklahoma who said, ‘I’ll do what I can,’” Iowa’s Loebsack said. “Thirty-five minutes later, he had almost everyone from the Oklahoma delegation signed up. It’s not just Iowa, though, and it’s not just Oklahoma. It’s a lot of places around the country.”

Jordan, the congressman from Ohio, said the politics of wrestling’s future needs to extend beyond the walls of Congress.

“You need to get the votes from the IOC,” Jordan said. “So it’s a public relations and grassroots effort. You need to think, which countries will have their medal counts significantly impacted if you don’t have wrestling? Russia, for one. They have votes on the IOC, so you work with those people.”

==== CONGRESSMAN BEAT A LEGEND ====

Few if any people wading through Washington D.C. political circles know the sport of wrestling better than Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan.

Jordan finished with a sterling 150-1 record in high school as a four-time champion and won a pair of NCAA wrestling titles at Wisconsin.

The stunner: Jordan beat mat legend John Smith 7-4 for the 134-pound NCAA championship in 1985. Smith, the current coach at Oklahoma State, is the most decorated freestyle wrestler in U.S. history — he won six consecutive world or Olympic titles from 1987-92.

==== MORE POLITICAL MUSCLE ====

In the Des Moines Sunday Register, I wrote that Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds forwarded more than 25,000 online signatures to reinstate wrestling.